Ben Starr – The Ultimate Food Geek

Tag: Season 2

  • MasterChef Where Are They Now: Tracy Kontos

    For the next installment of my MasterChef: Where Are They Now? series, I’ve chosen one of my personal favorites from Season 2…Tracy Kontos.  Tracy is one of those people that, upon meeting, you instantly feel like you’ve been bosom buddies for decades.  She immediately sweeps you into this comfortable familiarity and makes you feel like…

  • FRANK: The first MasterChef love child

    During the filming of MasterChef season 2, Jennie Kelley and I had become very close.  During one pressure test challenge, our team was safe and we were watching the opposing team battle it out from the safety of the balcony above.  Jennie and I were distraught, watching our friends cooking at the very limit of…

  • MasterChef recap: The Season 3 Finale

    (Please Note: The opinions contained in this blog are only that…uneducated hyperbole from my brain, and they may have absolutely no basis in reality.  While I was on Season 2 of MasterChef, I have no inside information about how Season 3 is produced or judged, and my opinions should not be treated as fact.) We’re…

  • MasterChef: One Year Later

    Today is February 2, 2012.  Exactly one year ago on this day, I flew to Los Angeles to film MasterChef.  It was a cold day and Dallas was buried under a foot of ice.  A storm-of-a-century had descended on Texas the day before, and I awoke at 4am in hopes that I’d be able to…

  • MasterChef Top 9: Scallops and Pigs

    I think, by now, we’ve established the fact that I hate mystery boxes.  So you can imagine that I’m less than thrilled that it’s time for another one. We lift our boxes and I see 3 massive, gorgeous scallops, still in their shells.  “Diver’s scallops,” announces Gordon.  That means these scallops are each foraged, by…

  • MasterChef: Mothers and Benedicts

    So they drive us to Pasadena and drop us off at this MASSIVE swanky hotel, and I’m immediately afraid.  If I have to cook cuisine that matches the sophistication of this place, I’m screwed. It’s a team challenge with Tracy and Giuseppe as team leads.  I couldn’t be more conflicted about whose team I want…